Dental cleaning agents are on the market in a variety of forms, and are used to clean the tooth surface and to prevent diseases of the teeth and gums. They may contain a combination of polishing agents, humectants, surfactants, binding agents, flavorings, and fluoride-containing and antimicrobial active agents. Besides tooth powders, which play a subordinate role because of their elevated abrasiveness, dental cleaning agents are offered principally in the form of a paste, cream, translucent gel, or transparent gel. Liquid dentifrices and mouthwashes have also become increasingly significant in recent years.
Developments have also been pursued in terms of equipment. Besides the conventional manual toothbrush, which the consumer moves in the mouth using circular motions; electric toothbrushes have also become established on the market. Electric toothbrushes generate some of the motion of the bristles on the tooth surface by means of a battery (usually rechargeable) in a hand piece of the toothbrush. Accordingly, the consumer may, depending on the model, replace the circular hand motion with a horizontal linear motion.
Electric toothbrush heads are common on the market in a variety of configurations. For example, round brush heads are electrically rotated or partly rotated, with clockwise and counterclockwise rotations. Elongated brush heads modeled on conventional toothbrushes may be electrically oscillated.
Electric toothbrushes may relieve the consumer of some of the specific motion sequences used to clean the teeth. These advantages are also accompanied, however, by disadvantages. For example, an electric toothbrush usually exerts a more intense load on the tooth surface than in the case of manual toothbrushing. If the nature and concentration of the abrasive materials in the dentifrice are not coordinated with this load, damage to the tooth enamel may occur in connection with electric toothbrush use.
A further problem is the fact that the complex mechanism in the toothbrush may become clogged, and the toothbrush may not allow movement of the brush head. Additional attention is also given to rheology, since a dentifrice should adhere to the electric toothbrush head in order to prevent the dentifrice from spraying.
Some of the aforementioned requirements are mutually contradictory, since abrasive materials are at least in part also consistency agents.
Accordingly, the present systems and methods provide an oral and dental care and cleaning agent that is suitable specifically for electric toothbrushes and that overcomes the disadvantages recited above. More specifically, the present systems and methods achieve a high level of cleaning performance without excessive abrasiveness. The present systems and methods allow for low stress on the sensitive mechanism of the electrically operated brush heads and sufficient adhesion to the brush head.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.